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Diversified Energy Hits Gasifier Development Milestones in DOE-Sponsored Program
14 November 2009
Diversified Energy Corporation has successfully completed several key milestones in an advanced gasification development program being sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). The 24-month, $945,000 grant is focused on the design and demonstration of a one ton per day OmniGas gasifier to process biomass, coal, and blends thereof. (Earlier post.)
OmniGas uses a patent-pending molten slag approach to produce syngas that can be used by more than 14,000 US industrial consumers of large volumes of natural gas. According to the company, the gasifier will provide a number of benefits to the industrial marketplace, including: a) the capability to gasify a broad range of hydrocarbon inputs (biomass, municipal solid waste, petroleum coke, and coals with varying moisture, sulfur, and heating value content), b) the production of syngas that is relatively free of tars and oils and therefore requires less downstream clean-up equipment, and c) a design that is economical and reliable for industrial scale process heating applications.
Diversified Energy completed a detailed design of the demonstration reactor based on results and lessons from previous testing. This activity includes the creation of more than 50 engineering drawings, firm quotes from hardware vendors for every component of the gasifier, and the establishment of a formal configuration control board. The team is now beginning the fabrication phase of the program, which includes the procurement and manufacture of components and the assembly and integration of the reactor.
The fabrication activities will occur during the winter in Diversified Energy’s laboratories in Gilbert, Arizona. The reactor will then be transported to the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) in Grand Forks, North Dakota for integration with upstream and downstream processing equipment, before proceeding into testing next summer.
ARPA-E. Separately, Diversified Energy Corporation and North Carolina State University, as part of a team led by Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, received one of the 37 ARPA-E awards. (Earlier post.) The 24-month, $5.2M project is focused on utilizing sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to cultivate fatty acids from cyanobacteria, which are then processed by Centia to produce fuels similar to petroleum-derived gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. (Earlier post.)
November 14, 2009 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted by: Henry Gibson | November 15, 2009 at 04:51 PM
1000 gasifiers across the U.S. using corn cobs, corn stalks, wheat straw, rice straw and forest product waste could provide 30% of our transportation energy. It would require an investment, but would be good for the economy and our energy security.
Posted by: SJC | November 19, 2009 at 08:44 AM
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The gasifiers should be encouraged because there is almost universal agreement that the high price of oil was due to the supply running out not due to governmental actions and speculations. With modern technology, the UK can reopen their coal mines and make methane from synthesis gas and gasoline too. In the US there should be a program to build gassifiers as fast as is possible for making natural gas and liquid fuels from everything including biomass. There can be many jobs created. An import duty on imported crude oil can guarantee the profitability of these factories that can be placed at the coal mines for the cheapest coal and waste coal. The extra CO2, if any, from making automobile fuel from coal instead of oil can be made up by planting more trees in areas where they would have enough water to grow. There is no accurate accounting for what CO2 cost is associated with imported oil before it is refined; even today much gas is flared. The world oil and coal producing companies have various means of capturing CO2 or diverting energy production to non CO2 producing sources. ..HG..